diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
index d91bbb5f6..59d6f5382 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ class VersionParser
     {
         $version = trim($version);
 
+        if (in_array($version, array('master', 'trunk'))) {
+            return '9999999-dev';
+        }
+
         // match classical versioning
         if (preg_match('{^v?(\d{1,3})(\.\d+)?(\.\d+)?(\.\d+)?'.$this->modifierRegex.'$}i', $version, $matches)) {
             $version = $matches[1]
@@ -65,6 +69,31 @@ class VersionParser
         throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid version string '.$version);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Normalizes a branch name to be able to perform comparisons on it
+     *
+     * @param string $version
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public function normalizeBranch($name)
+    {
+        $name = trim($name);
+
+        if (in_array($name, array('master', 'trunk'))) {
+            return $this->normalize($name);
+        }
+
+        if (preg_match('#^v?(\d+)(\.(?:\d+|[x*]))?(\.(?:\d+|[x*]))?(\.(?:\d+|[x*]))?$#i', $name, $matches)) {
+            $version = '';
+            for ($i = 1; $i < 5; $i++) {
+                $version .= isset($matches[$i]) ? str_replace('*', 'x', $matches[$i]) : '.x';
+            }
+            return str_replace('x', '9999999', $version).'-dev';
+        }
+
+        throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid branch name '.$branch);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Parses as constraint string into LinkConstraint objects
      *
@@ -93,7 +122,7 @@ class VersionParser
 
     private function parseConstraint($constraint)
     {
-        if ('*' === $constraint || '*.*' === $constraint || '*.*.*' === $constraint) {
+        if ('*' === $constraint || '*.*' === $constraint || '*.*.*' === $constraint || '*.*.*.*' === $constraint) {
             return array();
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
index 09789d5e6..4a6909e23 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ class VersionParserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             'parses datetime'   => array('20100102-203040',     '20100102-203040'),
             'parses dt+number'  => array('20100102203040-10',   '20100102203040-10'),
             'parses dt+patch'   => array('20100102-203040-p1',  '20100102-203040-patch1'),
+            'parses master'     => array('master',              '9999999-dev'),
+            'parses trunk'      => array('trunk',               '9999999-dev'),
         );
     }
 
@@ -72,6 +74,30 @@ class VersionParserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         );
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider successfulNormalizedBranches
+     */
+    public function testNormalizeBranch($input, $expected)
+    {
+        $parser = new VersionParser;
+        $this->assertSame((string) $expected, (string) $parser->normalizeBranch($input));
+    }
+
+    public function successfulNormalizedBranches()
+    {
+        return array(
+            'parses x'              => array('v1.x',        '1.9999999.9999999.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses *'              => array('v1.*',        '1.9999999.9999999.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses digits'         => array('v1.0',        '1.0.9999999.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses long x'         => array('v1.0.x',      '1.0.9999999.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses long *'         => array('v1.0.3.*',    '1.0.3.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses long digits'    => array('v2.4.0',      '2.4.0.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses long digits/2'  => array('2.4.4',       '2.4.4.9999999-dev'),
+            'parses master'         => array('master',      '9999999-dev'),
+            'parses trunk'          => array('trunk',       '9999999-dev'),
+        );
+    }
+
     /**
      * @dataProvider simpleConstraints
      */